by Greig Beck
“What?” Matt’s voice caused a few heads to turn. “Stop selling yourself short. Look, you’re not staying. I need you with me, end of story.”
Megan started to walk toward Carla and Jian. “Bullshit, Matt. They need me, you don’t. And don’t try that do as your told crap on me.”
Carla looked from Matt to Megan. It seemed like she was about to object, but Megan quickly waved her away. “Anything could creep up on you two geeks, and you wouldn’t hear it. I’ll keep a lookout for spiders, or anything else.” At the mention of spiders, Carla simply nodded.
“Good, then it’s settled.” Megan folded her arms and looked from Matt to Steinberg.
Steinberg shrugged. “Fine with me; let’s go.”
Megan walked back toward Matt, arms still folded. Her smile was supposed to be one of triumph, but it carried a hint of nerves. “See you at supper time.”
Matt returned her crooked smile. “You make sure you’re here when I get back, okay?” He brushed the hair off her defiant face.
Her expression softened. “And you just make sure you come back … in one piece.”
He kissed her quickly and she gave him a small push. “I’ll be fine.”
“Come on, Romeo, we’re gonna be gone a few hours, not a few months.” Steinberg guffawed at his crack.
Looking into her eyes, Matt realized he really cared for her. It didn’t matter if she was impulsive, sometimes a smartass, or even if she had snuck off with Kurt. He loved her, and he was determined he wasn’t going to lose her. He half turned to Steinberg. “Give me a minute.”
He also realized he didn’t owe Max Steinberg anything. They had come to find a remedy for the infestation, not to track some long lost dinosaur bird for an overly rich Hollywood enfant terrible. Carla was the reason he came down here, and he was the reason Megan did. Steinberg and his gang could go to hell.
“Matthew, Professor Kearns, are you ready?” It was Joop this time.
Damn, he thought, gotta go. But if there was any consolation, it was that if there were more clues, he might find just as many answers on their trek as Carla and Jian would through their microscope.
He kissed Megan again quickly, then turned away. “Coming.” He started to jog after the disappearing team into the jungle.
“Hey.” He stopped at the sound of Megan’s voice. “Don’t be too long, buster.”
“I’ll bring you back a dinosaur.” He grinned, waved, and then ducked into the red foliage. Inexplicably, he held his breath for a second as he became submerged in the red-hued jungle once again.
*****
Matt plodded along, lost in his own thoughts, methodically following the man in front of him. The crawling sensation he felt on his body was somehow made worse by the knowledge that it was caused by something actually living on him, feeding off him – something potentially lethal.
He sighed and scratched. The going was extremely slow. Kurt had taken to simply pushing the tangled green chaos out of the way where possible, and only resorting to carefully cutting or chopping through it when necessary. It cut their speed to next to nothing, but it allowed them to hunt in comparative silence. Well, as much silence as five blundering bipeds from another world could muster.
Matt hoped they’d stumble upon another animal trail soon, and just as he stepped over a particularly elastic vine, it managed to loop over the toe of his boot, causing him to stumble a pace or two into the thick undergrowth. Matt went down onto his hands and knees and something hidden in the thick growth crashed away from him, causing him to pull back so quickly he pulled a muscle in his neck. He shuddered; visions of a squat, black body held aloft by eight shiny looking legs were fresh in his imagination.
Matt had traveled beneath the dark ice of the Antarctic and climbed to the peak of the Appalachians’ Black Mountain, both times searching for mankind’s hidden secrets, and both times encountering things that were horrifying and deadly. But it was the eyes of the spider that haunted him, the primitive part of his brain refusing to see the creature as anything other than coldly intelligent – a predator. It made his skin crawl.
John dropped back a step. “You okay?”
Matt wiped his hands down, and picked up the fallen net. “Yeah sure, just fell. Something was in there. I scared it … and it me.”
John laughed softly and slapped him on the shoulder. He continued walking, with Matt following just behind. “We are the outliers here. Makes me think that, even though the natives made small forays into this place, modern man probably hasn’t ever set foot in here. This place is as unique as it is remote – and beyond valuable to modern medicine.” He turned and looked at Matt from under lowered brows. Matt nodded, not really understanding the man’s point, but the thing that nagged at him bubbled to the surface again.
“John, something that Joop, Jian, and now you referred to – this place being unique, and a vacuum jar for ancient species. If it’s just within these walls, why did the Ndege look so … primitive? So much so, you’re going to try and get one of their skulls back home.”
John nodded, and pulled at his lower lip. “Strange, yes. The Ndege had some racial characteristics that certainly looked … retrogressive, and they lived outside of the crater walls. However, they’d been coming inside the crater for countless generations. I’ll need to do some DNA extraction from the teeth, but I don’t have the answer right now.” He suddenly looked up. “Cross breeding?”
“Huh?” Matt frowned.
“Maybe cross breeding with an older species within these walls? It’s a wild theory, but everything about this place defies logic. Maybe there is a tribe in here that are true dawn people – now wouldn’t that be something worth finding out about?”
Matt’s eyebrows shot up. For a paleolinguist, the opportunity to meet with a race that was proto-language, or even pre-speech altogether, would be unique, and extraordinary. He shook his head. “We’d need to stay away from them, even if they did exist. Remember how the Ndege were wiped out? We might do the same to them, and everything else in here. I don’t want to be responsible for bringing this place to an end.”
John nodded. “It could be vice versa, of course.”
“Well, hopefully Carla and Jian are getting to grips with that,” Matt said.
John nodded thoughtfully, and dropped back to walk beside Matt. “Yes, Dr. Nero, she’s a very competent woman.” He nodded, as if agreeing with his own assessment. “How did you meet her – a professor of linguistics and a CDC specialist?”
Matt shrugged. “Long … no, actually a short story, I guess. She was leading the field team investigating the infestation outbreak. There was a lost language involved, and the potential to have to communicate quickly with the Ndege. She needed my help.”
“She needed the best?”
Matt snorted. “We were in the same city when her logistics shortfall became apparent. A mutual friend recommended me … and the rest, as they say, is history.”
John’s mouth turned down while he contemplated the information. “Yes, very competent woman. I would expect she’d seek out the best … and damn well get it.” He seemed to think for a while.
“Is she, uh, would you know if she’s … single?” He immediately shook his head. “Forget I asked that; none of my business.” He cleared his throat and put his head down, picking up speed a little.
Matt sped up to keep pace. Nothing like love or sexual attraction to turn us back into awkward teenagers, he thought. Matt smiled up at the tall, urbane doctor. He liked the man; there was something old world and gentlemanly about him.
“I’m not sure, but if you like I can find out.”
John tapped his long nose with a finger. “Thank you, but on the Q-T, Professor Kearns. Don’t want to make anyone feel awkward.”
Matt returned the gesture. “Got it.” They walked a few steps farther, or rather, slid and pushed through the hole being created by Kurt out front.
“Okay, my turn; how did you and Steinberg come together? It doesn’t re
ally seem like the pair of you have that much in common.”
“I have been Max’s private physician for a number of years.” He turned and smiled. “So, I guess I know him better than most people – inside and out.”
Matt made a mental note to pull back on any overt criticism of the film producer in front of John. “He can be a bit prickly, but generally he’s a good man. He knew that I had been on jungle treks before, and even did some work in the deep Congolese jungle. He asked me if I’d like to join him, and then offered me enough money to retire. And like you said, the rest is …”
Matt raised his eyebrows. “The guy definitely seems to get his way.”
“Go easy on him. He’s okay, when he’s not being competitive or trying to show everyone how smart he is. There’s been very little for me to do; he’s surprisingly fit, and except for a few doses of the clap over the last five years, he’s a strong as an ox – a small one anyway. The guy makes movies, and he’s damned good at it.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen most of them,” Matt said. “He’s certainly found enough material for a dozen new movies down here.”
“That he has.” John turned and smiled. “I wonder who will play you – Brad Pitt, maybe?”
“Please. I’m sure they can find someone good-looking,” Matt shot back.
They trudged on in silence for another twenty minutes. Matt decided he needed some fluid replacement. The perspiration was running down his neck, along his spine, and making his ass crack greasy. He wished he’d remembered to bring salt tablets – he knew he’d need more than just fluid by now.
He sipped his water, looked up, and then froze as he almost crashed into John’s back.
“What is it?” he said in a stage whisper.
“Kurt’s seen something.”
The big guide had his hand raised. As they watched, he went into a crouch. Matt didn’t know if that meant another spider, but he had been on high alert ever since that thing had disappeared into the brush.
Kurt stayed down, but edged forward a dozen feet. Matt was relieved to see that his focus was toward the upper branches. He followed his gaze.
At first he saw nothing, but then he let his gaze travel a little higher. There – movement. One, two, three, four avian shapes on a horizontal limb. The creatures scuttled along, bat-like, using feet and tiny hands on the ends of strong, feathered wings. They looked nothing like the decrepit creature in the pictures Carla had shown him back in Orange County.
In the soft light of the red flowered canopy hundreds of feet overhead, their plumage was an iridescent blue-green, tending to a light brown on the head and legs. They moved along rather clumsily, their feet gripping the bark with heavy talons. There were scales just visible below the plumage. Just like Carla’s creature, the head was blunt, more reptilian than avian. Even from this distance, Matt could see their serrated beaks.
Kurt spoke over his shoulder. “Kearns, Joop, get up here and get ready. I’m going to take one down.”
Matt burrowed forward and tried to gauge where the animal would fall – probably about fifty feet to the east of them, unless it managed to fly while tranqued. He pulled the net from around his shoulders and held it in both hands.
Kurt aimed, the gun barrel rock steady. There was the sound of air being pushed through a pipe, a squawking hiss from overhead, and then all four of the archaeopteryx swooped – not flew, but sort of glided away in different directions. Matt thought they were all going to loop away into the jungle, but one crashed heavily into the foliage at ground level – obviously the tranquilizer had kicked in.
“Bingo. Boys …fetch.”
Matt resisted the urge to yell yes, bwana, and settled for some griping under his breath. He and Joop pushed and grunted their way toward the spot they thought the bird had fallen from the sky. There was no track, and all they had to rely on was their sense of direction, with Kurt yelling curses and coarse directions from behind.
As it happened, they needed neither. Just ahead there was a hissing, squawking commotion from the undergrowth. Matt and Joop slowed, net and cage at the ready. Zeroing in on the sound, Matt paused amongst the last long threads of grasses and pushed some fronds out of the way.
It was there – one red eye, like a glittering ruby, swiveled toward them. Matt flung the net. The archaeopteryx tried to escape, but its limbs refused to obey, and it simply flopped miserably, squawking loudly under the mesh. One of its wings looked to be held at an awkward angle.
“It’s injured … hey, watch out.” Joop pushed Matt out of the way just as several dark objects swooped low from overhead. Lying in the grass, they looked upward. The group of archaeopteryx had landed in the trees just overhead. They stared down with a beady-eyed ferocity.
Joop nudged him. “Seems his pals haven’t given up on him. Let’s get this guy into the cage and quiet, and then get back to the group.”
Matt pulled the net toward Joop. Small claws came through the mesh, and the creature’s toothed bill set to work picking at the tough fibers. Joop had the door of the cage open, and he stuffed the protesting animal in quickly, careful of the sharp teeth and claws trying to snag anything within reach.
A large, iridescent feather remained on the flattened grasses. Matt picked it up. Beautiful, he thought, holding it up and allowing the muted light to highlight its shimmering, metallic coloring. He frowned and held it close to his face. Moving around on the small strands was what looked like dust – ugh. Matt knew exactly what it was. Thoughts of sticking the feather in his top pocket evaporated instantly. He flicked it back to the ground.
“Let’s go.” He wondered how Megan was doing with Carla and Jian.
*****
Kurt watched Matt and Joop struggle back through the thick undergrowth, holding the caged bird between them. He ignored the crawling itch on his body. He was a jungle man; he’d put up with worse in his time … much worse.
“It’s injured.” The paleobiologist lifted his end of the cage as he approached.
“Badly?” Kurt raised his eyebrows.
Joop shook his head and shrugged. “Don’t think so. Maybe a sprained wing, but it’s in pain.”
Kurt nodded, but ignored the entreaty – he couldn’t do anything about its pain right now. Still, the ugly little bastard might go into shock and die. Might be a good idea to have a backup. Besides, they were here, and once he headed back, he’d prefer to keep on going … all the freakin’ way home.
He didn’t want the boss to decide to press on further into the center of the crater. He couldn’t shake an unsettling feeling. The spider had been weird enough, and he’d encountered plenty of life-threatening animals, insects, and parasites before, but this place made him feel different – unsettled and on edge. It was about as alien, or rather, primitive, as you could get. Mankind wasn’t supposed to exist in this jungle, and he had a feeling it might decide to object.
Fucked if I’m coming back anytime soon, he thought. “I’m going to take another one – maybe a breeding pair.” The small archaeopteryx flock had been following them in the upper branches, hissing down at them.
“Good thinking,” Steinberg responded.
“Breeding pair? How the hell will you know if you’ve got two of the opposite sex?” Joop’s face had creased into a disbelieving frown.
Kurt stifled an urge to laugh in the man’s face. Instead, he simply grinned. “That’s why we brought you, isn’t it?” He turned and sighted the glaring birds along the barrel, then paused, senses alert. He had acted as bodyguard, guide, lead trekker, and hunt master for a number of people over the years. He was successful because he had developed a hunter’s ear – it didn’t take him long to program into his brain the usual sounds of a particular forest or jungle. Anything outside of that, no matter how minute, would ring an alarm … like now.
There was something moving through the jungle – slow, but not stealthy … not yet. He couldn’t be sure if it was a lone animal, but he knew it was big, and it sounded heavy – elephant-sized, at lea
st. He clicked his fingers at Matt and Joop, getting their attention, and motioned them back in behind him.
He turned and put his finger to his lips, waving them down into a crouch. They all squatted and eased into the undergrowth, trying to make themselves as invisible as possible.
The shimmering reptilian birds overhead stopped their hissing and squawking. Looking up, Kurt could see where their attention was focussed – on the sound. It was moving closer. He put the rifle strap over his shoulder and drew his handgun.
“What is it?” Steinberg whispered, moving up behind him.
He half turned, whispering himself now. “Something’s coming … something big. Get down and stay quiet.” He gave the man a push.
Steinberg fell back into the lush growth, and Kurt squeezed behind the massive stem of a rubbery plant with pendulous purple fruit. He looked down at the pitiful gun – it could stop a man with a single shot, but if it was an elephant, and he hoped to God that’s all it was, it’d do little more than piss it off.
He slowed his breathing and waited. He felt as though they were in a jungle within a jungle. Tall banyan trees, hundreds of feet high, were interspersed with the massive branchless trunks of cycads rising like hairy columns above a secondary jungle. Like a massive greenhouse, oversized palm fronds, lianas, and other plants that defied description grew to fifty feet or more; their car-sized glossy fronds dense and water-filled.
A crushing sound to his left made him whip his head around. A hundred feet away, two palms were being flattened; their waist-thick ribbed trunks bent over and their heads came down just behind the wall of green that separated the men from whatever was approaching.
“Get ready.” Kurt could feel the perspiration run down his temples and onto his neck, joining the rivulets heading south on his body. Not all of it was due to the heat.
A snort, a deep grunt, and a smell like shit and rotting meat. Damn, he thought. Fucking big carnivore … but what type? Nothing he knew of was that big. The plants continued to give way, heralding the creature’s advance. Kurt gripped the gun tighter.